Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 vs Qwen3 Max
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 leads the LLM Stats Score 36.0 to 21.7. Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is 1.9x cheaper per token.
Moonshot AI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 36.0 to 21.7, ranking #81 overall.
In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 wins 4; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is roughly 1.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Kimi K2-Thinking-0905
- overall performance matters — it scores 36.0 and ranks #81 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 4 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 1.9x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Qwen3 Max
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
21 reported for Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 · 6 for Qwen3 Max
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 outperforms in 4 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, SWE-Bench Verified), while Qwen3 Max is better at 0 benchmarks.
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 ($0.47/1M tokens) is 1.1x cheaper than Qwen3 Max ($0.50/1M tokens).
For output processing, Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 2.5x cheaper than Qwen3 Max ($5.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3 Max is more expensive than Kimi K2-Thinking-0905.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 Max has 0.0B more parameters than Kimi K2-Thinking-0905, making it 0.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to Qwen3 Max's 256,000 tokens. Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Qwen3 Max is limited to 131,072 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3 Max uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 was released on 2025-09-05, while Qwen3 Max was released on 2025-12-15.
Qwen3 Max is 3 months newer than Kimi K2-Thinking-0905.
Sep 5, 2025
1.0 years ago
Dec 15, 2025
9 months ago
3mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is available from DeepInfra, Novita, Fireworks. Qwen3 Max is available from Novita, DeepInfra.
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905
Qwen3 Max
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 and Qwen3 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 vs Qwen3 Max.